Comments from Bloop

My grandparents lived around the corner. I recall my Grandmother asking my parents , “What’s the difference between "X” and “XXX” ? “ . LOL. I was never inside there but I love reading all this memories. I remember when in summer of 1976 "Squirm” was playing there. Wish someone had a nice clear photo of the front. I loved buying comic books and Mad magazines from that tiny newsstand to the left of the Benson all through the 1970’s. Oh boy has that neighborhood CHANGED!

The Smithtown Outdoor was actually better than the Commack Drive-In. In high school I saw some weird double bills there as well. Hard to believe I saw “I Drink Your Blood” there in 1979 . The movie was already 8 years old, pretty old even for a second billed movie! I saw “Halloween” there and as I recall, the outdoor was opened even in the WINTER! At the Indoor part, I think the only movies I saw in there was “Creepshow”, “Night Train to Terror” and “The Perils of Gwendolyn”. The snack bar was very 1960’s looking, and pretty big too. Does anyone know when this theater opened ?

The above poster w/ Pink Panther comment: Yes, it was odd. in the 1970’s (U.A.?) Theaters showed Pink Panther cartoons before any feature. I saw one before the 1978 version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” at the Smithhaven Mall movie theatre. In hindsight, I’d rather see that than a Cingular or Coke commercial like they show today.

Movies I saw at Elwood: Yellow Submarine, 2001: A Space Odyssey, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Brood, Dick Tracy, Parasite (in 3-D). In the late 1960’s the Elwood Shopping Center had a Meat Farm type store called Ehlner & Pike. Their logo had a 3-D cow’s head on the sign…or something like that. On the right hand end of the strip of stores was a small “ma & pa” drugstore. I bought my Aurora Phantom of the Opera model kit from there. Across the street was: Friendly Frost appliences.

This theater opened in the late 1950’s. The first feature was a Frank Sinatra movie and the Northport High School Marching Band played. Longtime rumor had it that Frank Sinatra was actually there as well!
The theater closed in 1985 and the last feature to play there was Ken Russell’s “Crimes of Passion”. It then became some sort of “church” for a year, then an office space (that I do not think anyone has ever rented?). MOVIES I HAVE SEEN THERE: Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Stepford Wives, The Love Bug, The Legend of Boggy Creek, The Towering Inferno, Hair, Midnight Express, Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Asylum, Arnold,The Eyes of Laura Mars and the above mentioned Grease/Saturday Night Fever double feature. The lobby had candy machines as well as a snack bar. Loved the Bonomo Turkish Taffy! The seats were UNCOMFORTABLE and not paddeed that well.

Movies I have seen at the Commack RKO Twin: Beast of Blood,Taste the Blood of Dracula, Spinal Tap, Angel Heart, Mel Brook’s Silent Movie, King Kong , King Kong Lives, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, When A Stranger Calls. Wow, that’s some time span! I did submit pix of the Commack RKO to this site and hope they will post them with the listing. I believe the theater closed in the late 1980’s? Didn’t everything leave us then?